A New England Connecticut Valley deer camp for good friends, companions and conservationists...

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Thursday, March 14, 2013

End of Winter at Long ridge

Things are really thawing out here at Long Ridge and the deer are roaming widely again. I put out one camera March 1st, up behind an overgrown Christmas tree plantation and got some decent shots.

Turkeys have left their tracks on this snow covered food plot.

My Trackometer tells me this deer would dress out at about 120 pounds. I will measure the hooves of the next deer I take and see how good this thing is. It's inventor sounds plausible.﻿

I couldn't resist the beauty of this snow covered golden rod...﻿

Not much bark scraping on young hemlocks going on this winter. It has been a light snow year and the deer have plenty of browse.﻿

Next three shots are of deer digging down to clover and grass in a field and in the East plot.﻿

On this day I hiked up a snowmobile trail toward the ridges in hopes of calling in a coyoye. No luck. Only saw one coyote track. A farm neighbor who slaughters cows has lured them his way, and really thinned out the pack. Bummer!

More game camera shots below...﻿

A gorgeous gray above...﻿

Same fox I think...

This maple has been savaged by deer. I cut it and left it at the edge of the Far Ridge plot so they could get the buds.

﻿

It's back down to 18 degrees, but spring is only weeks away! In this part of the country, we'll lose the rest of our snow, get an 18 inch blizzard, lose it again, go to 60 degrees, then shear the sheep in April and watch the temperature drop to 5 degrees. Happens every time!